Urban Change Flashcards
Describe and account for the distribution of major cities in the United Kingdom (10)
• Many cities are on the coast (e.g. Liverpool)
- This is because they act as ports due to sheltered estuaries
• Many cities are also on the coast (e.g. Bournemouth) because
- Resort and retirement centres are located along sandy beaches in sunny areas
• Most urban areas are in England
- Only one is not, which is Clydeside in Scotland
• Many are on or near coalfields (e.g. Newcastle)
- Areas like this had many heavy industry factories and jobs that required coal as a power source
• Some cities are central and act as route centres (e.g. Birmingham)
- These places have many light industries and important services as they are easy to reach
Describe and account for the distribution of major cities in Pakistan (10)
• Few towns in the North and West
- This is because it is very mountainous and remote
• Very few towns in the East
- This is because it is hot desert with no reliable water supply
• The main concentration of towns is along the Indus Valley
- This is because of the reliable water supply and good communications
• There is another concentration in the North-East
- This place has many marker towns for the fertile Punjab farming area
• There are town on the South Coast (e.g. Karachi)
- These acted as fishing ports and trading centres, and have grown over time
Describe and account for the distribution of major cities all over the World (12)
• More cities in the Developing world than in the Developed world
- The population is greater in these cities as population growth is greater in the Developing world
• More cities in the tropics than temperate zones
- Developing countries tend to be in the Tropics, so have larger populations
• Many cities on the coast
- Cities started off as fishing and trading ports, so were near the sea
• Many cities in lowland areas
- This allowed easy building and expanding of early settlements
• Continent with most megacities is Asia, especially China and India
- These are developing countries so have greater population growth
• South America also has many megacities
- This is also has many developing countries
Describe and account for the Urban Growth in the UK (8)
Rapid Urbanisation in the 1800’s
• Industrial towns grew rapidly because of huge demand for workers in heavy industry
• These towns developed here due to nearby raw materials such as Glasgow’s coalfield
• Ports also grew rapidly as we had so many industrial products to export and materials to import
• These ports developed here due to estuaries nearby industrial areas such as the Firth of Clyde
Rapid Urbanisation in the 1900’s
• Industrial towns and ports continued to grow due to the industrial revolution
• Tourist resorts developed in places such as Blackpool, increasing population there
• Retirement centres also developed in places such as Bournemouth because of its coastal location
• New towns were also planned, such as East Kilbride, which were designed to attract more people to live there
Explain how Glasgow’s Site and Situation contributed to its growth (8)
Site
• It was a defensive site
- Provided safe religious centre for St Mungo and his followers
• It was beside a tidal, sheltered river Clyde
- This allows it to grow as a port and shipbuilding centre in the 19th century
• It was on a coalfield
- This provided many coal mining jobs and power sources for industry
Situation
• It was an early route centre
- Acted as a market centre
• It faces America
- Nearest port for trade with America in 19th century
• Clyde was narrowed, deepened and straightened
- This allowed ocean bound vessels to bring resources from America like cotton and tobacco
• Glasgow had rivers, canals and railways
- This allow heavy industry to use cheap, fast transport
• Motorway and airport nowadays
- Helped Glasgow become a light industrial centre and the biggest service centre in Scotland
Give reasons why traffic congestion occurs in Glasgow’s CBD, describe and explain solutions to these problems and then comment on their effectiveness (20) [14 without effectiveness] OGROFI OPAMBS
Reasons
• There are old, narrow streets that increase congestion
• The grid iron street pattern requires many traffic lights, slowing down traffic flow
• Many people use the CBD roads during the day as the CBD is the main place of work, shopping and entertainment
• The amount of people owning cars is increasing, which increases the amount of cars on the road
• Delivery lorries, buses and pedestrians in the CBD slow down traffic flow further, causing congestion
• It is difficult to improve roads as building would need to be demolished to improve them sufficiently, and improving roads would disrupt commuters
Solutions (and effectiveness)
• One way street system in High St (Can cause confusion)
• Pedestrianisation of Buchanan St (Increases congestion elsewhere)
• Make buses and trains more attractive (Less flexible than cars)
• M8 allows ‘through traffic’ to miss the CBD (Helpful, but often jams on Kingston Bridge)
• Build more bridges and tunnels like the Clyde Tunnel (Helpful as the crossing-points are often the most congested areas
• Reduce street parking and build multi storey parking (Makes street wider, but often queues near car parks
Give reasons why housing changed have occurred in Glasgow’s Inner City, describe and explain solutions to these problems and then comment on their effectiveness (20) [14 without effectiveness]
Reasons-before 1970’s
• The Inner City’s tenement housing was old, run down and becoming unstable
• The tenements lacked basic amenities such as inside toilets and hot water
• There was a lot of air, noise and visual pollution surrounding housing areas
• Due to high demand in workers and their families the housing areas were overcrowding
• There was a lack of open space as housing was built tightly to utilise the space and fit in as man people as possible
Solutions-in 1970’s (and effectiveness)
• Old tenements were demolished and replaced with high rise flats
• People also moved to the outer city estates like Castlemilk and to new town like East Kilbride
- The flats were cheap and easy to build, saving the government a lot of money
- There was more open space as housing was built up rather than out
- People finally had access to basic amenities
- They allowed high density of population without overcrowding
Reasons-before 1980’s
• High rise flats were unsuitable for disabled and old people
• There was a lack of neighbourliness that was present in tenement housing
• They suffered from dampness due to design errors
• Social problems such as crime and deprivation increased because of poor standards of living here
Solutions-in 1980’s (and effectiveness)
• High rise flats were demolished and replaced with refurbished tenement housing and new houses and flats
- This was a cheap and effective option as no buildings needed to be built initially
• Industries were attracted nearby by government incentives
- This provided locals with income to improve living standards
• Health and community centres were built
- This helped reduce deprivation and illness due to damp high rise flats
Describe and explain why urban sprawl has occurred in Glasgow (6)
- Areas outside the city (eg. Newton Mearns) have less traffic, crime and pollution so are more popular
- As a result of increases in popularity, more services are needed (eg. Williamwood High School) which makes it more attractive.
- New industries (eg. Hillington) are attracted in these areas due to cheap land and room for expansion.
- Shopping centres (eg. Silverburn) set up here because of this open, cheap land, allowing car parks to be built
- New transport systems (eg. M77 and Glasgow airport) are desirable to live near by as they allow quick transport.
- Sewage works and landfill sites( eg. Shieldhall) set up in these areas as they cannot be near the city, creating jobs here.
Describe the problems caused by urban sprawl (5/16)
Conflicts (and their effects)
• Housing, shops and industry conflicts with farming
- More traffic and air pollution
- Loss of farmland
- More vandalism
• Housing, shops and industry conflicts with conservationists
- Loss of wildlife habitats
- Loss of village life as they merge with city
• Motorways and airports conflict with local people
- Noise pollution from vehicles
- Light pollution from these vehicles
• Sewage works and landfill sites conflict with local people
- Smell will be unpleasant
- Attracts vermin to nearby areas
- Visual pollution
• New shopping (eg. Braehead) conflicts with old shopping (eg. Renfrew shops)
- Renfrew shops cannot compete with variety of new shopping centres
Suggest solutions to tackle urban sprawl, and comment on their effectiveness (6)
• A green belt has been in place around Glasgow for many years, and means that planning permission is very difficult to get in this belt
- This has prevented a lot of development so has deprived people of potential job opportunities in this area
• Regenerating the Inner city to attract more developments near the CBD instead of suburbs
- This attracts more people and business back to the Inner city and away from suburbs
• Until the 1980’s, the building of New Towns (eg. East Kilbride) was helpful as it attracted development there instead of suburbs
- These sort of towns are too expensive to build now
Describe and account for the rapid growth of Karachi since 1947 (12)
• Karachi became capital of the new country of Pakistan in 1947, providing many more office jobs
• Karachi has become a major industrial centre, due to its port, large labour force and large market
• It has also become a major immigration centre, and many people came from rural Pakistan and surrounding countries
- War refugees from Afghanistan came to Karachi to survive
- Many muslims moved here from India when the two countries separated
- There was a lack of secondary schools and hospitals in rural areas
- Farms were small and uneconomic due to unreliable rainfall
- Farmland also became poor due to over-cultivation and drought
• People were attracted to Karachi because
- It had one third of all jobs in industry in the whole of Pakistan
- It had two thirds of all port jobs in the whole of Pakistan
- It had secondary school and hospitals, and even had universities
- People were attracted to the high order shopping centres and leisure facilities
- Standards of living were much better in Karachi because of piped water and electricity
Describe the social, economic and environmental problems caused by shanty towns (12)
Social
• No piped water or sewers for shanty towns, so standards of living are poor
• There are no proper schools or health centres
• Shanty towns are popular because they are cheap, so are overcrowded
• High levels of disease due to lack of health centres and poor sanitation
• There is a lot of crime due to lack of street lighting
Economic
• Shanty towns are illegal and unplanned, so the government don’t make any tax revenues
• There is a lot of unemployment because people lack skills and have no legal address
• There are not enough 9-5 jobs to support the huge number of people in Shanty towns, and many jobs are mechanised, increasing unemployment
Environmental
• Lack of piped water and sewage forces people to pollute water around the city
• Traffic congestion caused by narrow streets and increased use in cars causes noise and air pollution
• Karachi is a major industrial centre, so many factories produces fumes which pollutes the air
• Delivery trucks and lorries working for industry in Karachi also add to air pollution, and cause further noise pollution
Describe possible solutions to tackle problems of shanty towns, and comment on their effectiveness (10)
• Authorities could clear the shanties away as many are illegal and the conditions are so poor
- This would make many people homeless, and could just set up another shanty town elsewhere
• The government and councils could upgrade existing shanties, and improve their living conditions
- This may attract even more people to live there, causing problems to re occur
• Authorities could implement ‘sites & services’ scheme, giving land ownership and grants to residents so they can build their own facilities elsewhere
- This is also very expensive for the government, and many people would not want to leave their current homes
• Self help schemes could be introduced (eg. Orangi Katch-Abadi), where residents are organised into self help groups, raise money and make their own improvements
- This improves community spirit, however it is difficult to raise money, so improvements are only minor
• New towns can be built by the government to reduce amount of people in shanty towns, and will provide jobs here also
- Government give industries incentives to set up here, so allows many people to have jobs if they move there
